1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exercise treadmills and more particularly to such treadmills wherein the plane off the tread belt of the treadmill is variable by means of rearwardly placed slope or incline adjustment mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Exercise treadmills conventionally have tread belt user support surfaces which either have a fixed attitude relative to the support surface on which the treadmill rests user which have mechanism to adjust the incline of the tread belt by means relatively raising or lowering the front or forward end of the treadmill and tread belt. Many examples of such treadmills are known, such as disclosed in Chen U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,134 and Dalebout U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,632, for example. Customarily, also, many treadmills which are inclinable by being raised and lowered at the front end are also provided with a raised deck portion forwardly of the tread belt in which the tread belt drive motor, and sometimes the incline drive motor as well, are housed. One example of this type of arrangement are shown in Chen U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,134, for example,
Also of interest in the prior art is Weisz U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,929 which discloses an underwater treadmill for hydrotherapy usage. This treadmill has a tread belt platform which is supported by a roller frame which in turn is supported by vertically extensible pneumatic cylinders or other suitable mechanical devices so that it can be tilted lengthwise. This patent thus may be said to teach the broad proposition of tilting a treadmill tread bed by raising or lowering either the forward or the rearward end of the tread deck. However, this patent does not disclose how this would be done on an exercise treadmill with a fixed forward support and its disclosure is of a special purpose assembly in which a user is partly submerged in a tub for rehabilitative hydrotherapeutic purposes.